Brian Hjelle, MD, was a newly-appointed virologist at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center when the UNM Hospital and the southwestern US were caught in an outbreak of a previously undescribed and often fatal viral illness that caused fever cardiorespiratory collapse. The syndrome was shown to be caused by a previously unknown hantavirus, Sin Nombre virus, and became known as hantavirus (cardio)pulmonary syndrome or HCPS. Since that time Dr. Hjelle has been involved in every aspect of hantavirus biology, starting with invention of a reliable diagnostic test and identification of prototypical new hantaviruses throughout the Americas, to development of the first animal models, to studies of ecology and evolution, to the present emphasis on cell biology, treatment, and pathogenesis of this group of dangerous pathogens. He will discuss aspects of viral-receptor interactions, signaling pathways induced by viral binding, potential avenues toward better treatment and mediators induced in the course of acute HCPS.

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